A related-art image forming apparatus includes a process cartridge which is removably mounted thereto.
For example, JP-A-H03-63666 discloses a printer including a casing configured by a lower cover having an upper opening and an upper cover which can open and close with respect to the lower cover, and a process cartridge which is accommodated in the casing.
In this printer, when the upper cover is opened, the process cartridge is raised upward with respect to the lower cover along with a movement of the upper cover, so that the process cartridge can be removed from the casing.
However, in this printer, the process cartridge cannot be removed from the casing unless the upper cover is largely opened. Therefore, in some location of the printer, a sufficient space for opening the upper cover could not be secured, so that the process cartridge could not be easily replaced.
Also, a related-art printer employing an electro-photographic method includes an apparatus main body, an image forming section which is accommodated in the apparatus main body and includes a photosensitive drum, and a laser scanner which irradiates the photosensitive drum with image light based on an image signal.
For example, JP-A-2005-17425 discloses a printer including an apparatus main body having a cartridge cover which can be opened and closed on a front surface thereof, an image forming section including a toner cartridge which accommodates toner and has a photosensitive drum, and a laser scanner disposed on a rear upper side with respect to the toner cartridge.
In the printer, the toner cartridge is mounted and removed by opening the cartridge cover.
Incidentally, in recent years, from the viewpoint of a degree of freedom of an installation location or a storage location of a printer, size-reduction of the printer in a vertical direction is desired. However, in the printer disclosed in JP-A-2005-17425, the laser scanner is disposed on the rear upper side with respect to the toner cartridge, and thus size-reduction in the vertical direction is restricted.
Further, the toner cartridge disclosed in JP-A-2005-17425 is removed from the apparatus main body and is replaced if an amount of toner becomes smaller than a predetermined amount due to consumption of the toner when the printer performs an image forming operation. Therefore, the photosensitive drum provided in the toner cartridge is also replaced along with the toner cartridge.
However, lifetime of the photosensitive drum is typically longer than a time period in which the toner accommodated in the toner cartridge is consumed due to the image forming operation of the printer and becomes smaller than the predetermined amount.
As a result, if the photosensitive drum is replaced along with a replacement of the toner cartridge, reduction in running cost is restricted.